Oklahoma basketball: Tanner Groves earns 2nd Big 12 Newcomer of Week honor
By Chip Rouse
For the second time this season, Oklahoma basketball center/forward Tanner Groves has been named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week.
Groves, along with his younger brother, Jacob, transferred to Oklahoma from Eastern Washington. The 6-foot, 10-inch senior was recognized for his performance in the Sooners’ 74-67 upset win last week over 14th-ranked. Florida.
Groves had 20 points and eight rebounds and shot 8 of 11 from the field in the Oklahoma win. He also added two assists and a blocked shot. It was the third game this season that he has scored 20 or more points in a game. He did that just seven times in 24 games last season.
For the season, Groves is averaging 15.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and is third in the Big 12 in field-goal percentage (59.0).
Groves was honored along with Kansas sophomore Christian Braun, scored a career-high 31 points, 22 of which came in the second half, in the Jayhawks’ 95-75 road win over St. Johns.
Oklahoma is 7-1 this season under new head coach Porter Moser, who for the past 10 seasons was head coach at Loyola-Chicago.
The Sooners are riding a three-game winning streak after losing to Utah State in the championship game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. They have a big week this week, hosting Butler on Tuesday at Lloyd Noble Center before playing Arkansas, the No. 12 team this week in the Associated Press Top 25 (No. 10 in the Coaches Poll) on Saturday in Tulsa.
Both games this week will be televised nationally on ESPN2. The Tuesday night game with Butler will air a 7 p.m. CT, and Saturday’s game with Arkansas is an afternoon contest set to tip off at 12:30 p.m.